'Lost': Penny for your thoughts

Everyone who had "Someone we've never seen before on Lost" in the who's-that-tangled-up-in-a-parachute pool, you're this week's big winners.

Lost being the show that it is, it would have been far too easy for the end product of Desmond's latest vision to be his long-lost love, Penny. This despite Desmond's fervent belief that the someone who'd be coming to the island would in fact be her. Faith and Desmond, though, aren't exactly on the best of terms.

I'm starting to believe there's a direct relationship between my enjoyment of a Lost episode and how many times its flashback subject has had his or her back story explored. I don't care if I never see another Jack story again, but Desmond, Juliet, Claire? Bring 'em on. For a show that's a big mystery, I guess it makes sense that there's more satisfaction to be had in delving into characters we don't already know inside out.

This episode, with all its biblical overtones and talk of tests, also did a better-than-average job of tying the past to the present. I was genuinely (and pleasantly) surprised to see Des in a monastery, and not just because it explains why he's so fond of calling everyone "brotha." It also explained a good bit about his personality, and the particular brand of conflict-avoiding cowardice he displayed even prior to meeting Penny.

It's pretty clear now that our favorite Scotsman didn't have a whole lot of spine before losing Penny. And I suppose you could argue that, by saving Charlie from the booby trap in the jungle, he chickened out again. But it takes a pair, doesn't it, to alter the future you've seen, at the possible expense of meeting up with the love of your life, to save a friend. I imagine there were a few cheers at the top of the episode when Charlie took one in the neck, but to have him die in vain might have been a bit much.

Now, onto the end of Desmond's little journey, which also saw Hurley and Jin (welcome back to the show, Daniel Dae Kim) tagging along. There are several things to ponder here, first of which, naturally, is who the heck this emissary of Penny is (she's played by former Las Vegas regular Marsha Thomason). Beyond that, though, there's the question of whether technical wizard Sayid will be able to revive the satellite phone, whether anyone else heard the helicopter, and just what brought it down in the open ocean (and whether anyone else was aboard).

Then there's the book Thomason was carrying: Ardil-22 is the Portuguese title of Joseph Heller's Catch-22. The two guys who recorded the island's electromagnetic burst in that remote outpost at the end of last season spoke Portuguese. Just saying. And I'll let you tear into the possible significance of that particular title falling out of a backpack at this particular time.

Tonight's episode also featured several little touches that made the proceedings more interesting. Jin's Korean ghost story made me laugh more than anything I've seen on Lost in some time, with the possible exception of Hurley's explanation of why they were in the jungle, followed by "Dude, even if I spoke Korean, it wouldn't make any sense."

The stuff back at camp was less interesting, even with Sawyer walking in on a not quite half-dressed Kate. It's pretty well-established that Kate has some issues with the guys, so although the mixtape bit was cute (and hey, apparently Bernard is still on the island) and it's generally amusing to see Jack and Sawyer swordfight, there wasn't much new there.

Your thoughts on tonight's episode? It really seems like we might be going somewhere, doesn't it?

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